Week 1: Thing ONE, Thing TWO

I am thrilled at the mere idea of the Raven About Web 2.0 course. The content of this course, and its goals, are exactly what today’s educators need in order to keep pace with our students. Technology, like it or not, is now a fundamental part of our contemporary society. The advances we have made – and continue to make – are not only staggering, but more and more weaves itself deeper into the fabric of our everyday lives. This is particularly true with each passing generation as they develop something of a dependency on technology. The truth is, our students today are basically "plugged in" to something nearly every waking hour of the say. They are connected to the world via cellphones and internet access (even some cellphones with internet access). They listen to i-pods, talk on i-phones, hang out with i-friends, and drive i-cars. To our students technology is not so much optional as it is essential. As such, we as educators need to recognize that we can better relate and better connect to our students if we establish some sort of common ground. A working knowledge, some would call it "fluency", of technology can serve as that commonality.

After watching the 7½ Habits of Lifelong Learners, I was immediately able to identify the habit that I would consider a weakness for me. Plain and simple, I am not a goal-setter (Habit 1: Begin with the end in mind). It’s not an attribute I am proud of, but it is certainly one that I am easily able to identify about myself. I don’t consider myself lazy, rather I think I have a tendency to get comfortable and complacent, and more or less let nature take its course. At the prompting of this course, I am going to make an earnest effort to change this about myself. In fact, I already drew up a learning contract where one of my goals resulting from the Raven course is to develop and effectively integrate more technology (specifically Web 2.0 tools) into my classroom curricula.

I think that I very naturally associate with Habit 3 – View problems as challenges. I am never satisfied with one solution or a single answer, and always work to explore every possible option. This is due in large part to the fact that enjoy puzzles of all sorts, and as such, any problem I come across I treat like it is a puzzle waiting to be solved.